


To Have the Misfortune To Fall In Love

by lewovo



Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse)
Genre: M/M, WARNING: Contains some one-sided college crush (Reed to Ben), and it was mostly used as a plot device, but still, that did not evolve to anything
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:55:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23251294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lewovo/pseuds/lewovo
Summary: The Council now faces a new problem.One of their own has unfortunately fallen in love with his Victor Von Doom.Now the poor man is panicking.Well, a tragic crisis indeed.Featuring: an AU doomreed from some made-up multiverseGuest starring: The Council of Reeds, 616 Reed, and 1610 Reed giving their totally not helpful advices.Set in some time post-Secret Wars but before 2in1.Inspired by Traincat's "A Latverian Affair".
Relationships: Reed Richards/Victor von Doom
Comments: 14
Kudos: 28





	1. A New Type of Crisis

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Latverian Affair](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17129405) by [Traincat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traincat/pseuds/Traincat). 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t own anything.  
> English is my second language. Beta done by the fantastic younghavoc!  
> Inspired by Traincat's "A Latverian Affair", one of the most hilarious and awesome doomreed fanfiction I have ever read! (Not based on the same universe/setting)  
> You probably need to ignore some canon because I sorta revived all the dead Reeds and lobotomized Dooms post-Secret War ( I mean, like what even happens to the Parliament of Doom in the canon?)

It should not have happened.

When Reed-5236 arrived at the council one day looking as miserable as a man could be, Reed Richards from all over the multiverse—or at least those who had left their duplicates—instantly grew concerned for the young man.

As their most recent member of the Council, Reed-5236 was brought in not only because he was a worthy scientist, but also they want new, younger Reeds like him to help change their old ways of life. 

Ever since the multiverse crashed, Reed-616 (and Doom-616, which is a whole can of worms that no Reeds want to touch) had been working on restoring the worlds one by one after gaining the ultimate power. With everything lives, so was the rebirth of the Council. Since then, the Council had gone through numerous reforms such as taking less radical approaches and bringing in new blood with different opinions. 

Reed-5236 is one of those new members who went through the rigorous new tests and thus had proven himself. He had a fantastic performance score on friendship maintenance and an above-average performance score on interpersonal relationships. Under the new testing standards, the only underperformance in the evaluation is that he seemed to have no serious romantic relationships so far, which is quite worrisome since stable romantic relationships weighs a lot on the biannual evaluation. But still, Reed-5236 is on the younger side of the spectrum so he has plenty of time. He is polite, well mannered, and plays by the rules. He follows the Council's order of not staying too long for the sake of finding a partner first, never comes in unless it's for an emergency, and overall just a very promising member. 

Considering that cosmic threats are happening way too often these days and it is a crucial time for all Reeds to work together, the Reeds instantly thought the young man's universe was on the edge of doom—presumably caused by his Doctor Doom too—so naturally, the Reeds started to ask questions.

“Well, long time no see Reed-5236. I’m assuming this is an emergency, so I’ll go straight to the point. What is it? Doctor Doom trying to take over the world? Ultron trying to eliminate all humans? Galactus trying to devour your earth?” Asked one of the Reeds.

“If it’s a Doom problem we could always help you to...... Well, you know the procedure.” Another Reed also helpfully added, which earned him a few glares and mumbles across the room.

“I......”Reed-5236 looks a bit stared, and visibly distressed by the previous Reed’s generous offer regarding the procedure, “Aren't we going to have some new procedures regarding......no, actually, I’m not sure if you guys are suitable for my--”

He stops and twists his brows even further, then sighs heavily, “Oh why did my body take me here......? But perhaps......”

Reed-5236 hesitates for a moment, then closes his eyes while taking a deep breath—as if he is bracing for the inevitable or confirming something frightening to himself. He huffs out the breath he had been holding while re-opens his eyes, then forcefully spits out the words, as if each one is physically hurting him, “I’m afraid I might be......falling in love with my…my Victor.”

Silence.  
Then confusion.

The Reeds all stare at Reed-5236 like he just said some strange, unfunny jokes. But as Reed-5236’s face remains grave and—if it’s possible—even more miserable than 10 seconds ago, the realization kicks in.

The crowd roared.

“WHAT?!”

* * *

An unfortunate event. An absolutely tragic, unforeseeable event.

Let’s just say that when the Council was pushing for radical reforms on the “Doom Procedures” and improve private relationships, this is NOT what they had in mind.

While the council all know how different each one of them can be by observing, encountering, and absorbing many Reeds, it is still almost surreal and downright ludicrous that one of their own—a Reed that the Council had deemed worthy to join the group no less—would stray away so much to fall to the dark side.

An emergency indeed.

“You did the right thing coming here, my fellow Reed.” Reed-1100 said gravely, putting a hand on Reed-5236’s shoulder as if trying to offer some type of emotional support while several other Reeds were nodding along and expressed their condolences; however, Reed-1100 knew it would not be enough to ease this poor man’s emotional turmoil, especially after going through multiple magical and scientific examinations to confirm that he is indeed in love without any suspicious influences.

To have the misfortune of falling in love with Doom!

Out of the 7.8 billion humans on earth and Galactus knows how many more in the universe and multiverse, the unfortunate Reed-5236 chooses to fall in love with Victor Von Doom. A poor soul indeed. And an utterly brave one too. Even if he was gay like Reed-5236 was, and even if Doom-5236 is not a supervillain, Reed-1100 still doesn’t think he would be courageous enough to date a Doom. Just.....what a way to murder the stable romantic relationship performance score! Personally (although this might be agreed across the Council), Reed-1100 thinks one must have the endurance and the temper like the mythical Buddha to even befriend a Doom.

Cause he tried more than once, in college and then later as Mr. Fantastic.

......And that path ends with him in the previous Council known only as of the Reed of Earth-1100 after a disastrous divorce and his Doctor Doom lobotomized under the Hole.

Of course, with Reed-616 rebuilding everything and the Council going through reforms on how to deal with Dooms and the world in general, that past was just a distant dream. Reed-1100 had regained his marriage and friends (he's actually scoring above average on his social performance evaluation, which is impossible to imagine just a years ago), but also, unfortunately, his Doom not lobotomized and back to trying to kill him 3 times a week—very "fun" weekly exercises indeed.

Reed-1100 shook his head to clear his thoughts while exchanging a few looks with several other solemn-looking Reeds. Now is not a good time to reminisce on the past. What he needs to focus on is Reed-5236’s unique case.

How did it happen?

Reed-5236 is gay, a fact that all the Reeds in the Council knew, and none had particularly cared until now. While the gay Reeds are a minority amongst the Reed species, it is hardly rare. In fact, Reed-93563 who married Jack Storm had left quite an impression on the Council when he flat out refused to join years ago. So really, a gay Reed is not unheard of. What is unheard of is a Reed in the Council fallen in love with a Doom, which goes against the fundamental values of the Council--even with the reforms, it is still too radical. Because the Council has seen times and times again how every Doom can be a deadly threat to the multiverse.

The Council figure they could use a few memory altering devices to save the poor man from his misery—it will be the humanitarian approach, and it will save the man's future disastrous performance scores—but that will only solve the problem on the surface level. They must know the cause of this outlier and fix the problem at its root—what if this Reed has a villain kink or tends to get into abusive relationships? Those will be unacceptable behaviors and violate the new standards (as well as their old standards regarding Doom). So while the Reeds think it’s downright cruel to ask Reed-5236 of this, they all agree that it’s probably the best to ask how he began to develop these feelings first.

“We understand this might be difficult for you, but could you please describe your Doom.....Victor......and how you came to fall in love with him? Perhaps......we could help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 52, 36, and 1100 are just made up of numbers from my past student ID, so don't overthink it.  
> This should be a rather short piece.
> 
> If you like it, comment pls! :D


	2. College Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Contains some Reed/Ben onesided crush (Reed to Ben) that did not evolve to anything and it died after a short while. It was used mostly as a background plot device but it does exist, so please read it at your own risk. Sorry I didn't put it in the tags at first!
> 
> I want to give my thanks to my amazing beta younghavoc. She is super awesome and honestly a lifesaver for offering her service. Without her helpful advice and urging me to expand the Doomreed development, about 2/3 of this chapter will not be born, so thank you younghavoc!

It wasn’t supposed to be like that.

He wasn’t supposed to fall in love with Victor von Doom.

Reed Richard is gay, which is never really a problem until he fell in love in college.

But that person was not Victor. It was Ben.

* * *

You see, Reed Richards has a type. That person does not have to be a genius or even smart, but he would like that person to be an easygoing individual who’s fearless, strong, and kind. Someone who likes to laugh and has a smile that warms one’s heart. Someone who enjoys life, adventure, and new discoveries. Someone who he can see himself start a real family with after growing up alone without parents. In conclusion, a genuinely good person—preferably blue-eyed and a rocking hot body as a bonus.

Ben Grimm is all those things, and more.

Ben is a fiercely loyal friend who will defend Reed for anything negative thrown against him. He is an easygoing man who is protective of his family and has the world’s most amazing aunt. He might not be the world’s smartest man or student in ESU, but he is wise and kind and more reasonable than Reed himself. Ben might not understand Reed’s “Science stuff”, but he will listen to Reed excitedly blab out his train of thought and just smile at Reed warmly, which just makes Reed’s train of thoughts go even faster. Ben will forcefully “remove” Reed from his lab in bridal style because Ben thinks Reed needs a life outside of the lab and a healthy social circle. Ben is a generously good person who’s blue-eyed with a very, very nice body.

So naturally, Reed falls in love with Ben.

Reed would go to every game Ben is in even though he never really watched football in his life before meeting Ben, yell Ben’s name as loud as his under-exercised body allows him, congratulate Ben when his team wins and be there for Ben when his team loses. 

But the thing is, Ben is not gay. And when later Ben has become too familiar—much more like a brother Reed never had growing up—it made Reed feel wrong to even think of his dear best friend that way, and that was the end of Reed’s college crush. 

So by and large, Victor Von Doom really doesn’t fit Reed’s material, and he doesn’t know why he’s so fascinated by Victor—fascinated enough to chase after the lone foreign student for a rooming chance on first sight—and he doesn’t understand why Victor is constantly in the back of his mind/why Victor constantly hunts his mind.

(Perhaps it’s because Victor is a mystery, a puzzle. And I love solving puzzles and finding solutions to hard problems.)

So, the confusion is settled, and the solution is found. He will befriend Victor.

Reed believes that with no action, mere ideas will never lead to anything. So Reed always cheerfully greets the grumpy foreign student with a smile (which usually earns him a scorn), always asks about his current projects and daily life (which were either met with some alarmed or annoyed expression), always offers chances to hang out together (which is funny because that’s usually Ben’s job to him when he spends too long in the lab). 

And it paid off, sort of. 

Maybe it’s because Victor knows that Reed would not stop annoying him so he may as well just get used to it. But Victor starts to be less grumpy to his greetings, and sometimes—on a rare good day if Victor’s secret project was going well—he may even greet back without any mockery. 

They started to play chess after 2 months due to a dare. Through a simple wooden board or sometimes with mere words, they have fought glorious battles mixed with deception and mind games, and their games quickly became one of Reed’s favorite pastimes. It was as if Reed was not only playing a game but also trying to dissect the other man’s mind, and the mind that he sees was something extraordinary and exquisite, which both excites and frightens him. 

On the other hand, guarding his own mind against Victor can be a tricky task. Sometimes he won, and sometimes he lost. But no matter the result, Reed cherishes it as he hadn’t felt the rush of a true challenge since his father disappeared. 

* * *

They started to have late-night study sessions in the library after 4 months due to finals, because Reed had come up with an excuse that he needed help with Quantum Mechanics. 

“Really, Richards?” Victor sneered but his eyes gleamed amusingly, “If you do not even understand something as basic as this then perhaps you should reconsider your career choice.” With his head held high, Victor managed to stare down at the blushing tall young man who is not used to lying.

“I merely……wanted to reassure……” Reed mumbled.

Victor raised one of his eyebrows, looking completely unimpressed by Reed’s excuse. It made Reed want to fold himself into the cracks on the floor and disappear. 

(I am such an idiot. This is never going to work anyways!)

As Reed was about to leave, feeling flushed and beyond stupid, a hand suddenly caught his lanky arm, which made Reed turn to look at the smug young man who was obviously in a good mood, like Reed had predicted when he ran the scenario beforehand. 

“Well, we might as well get it started, only because you had pleaded so nicely.”

(Oh PLEASE)

Reed had to press down the strong urge to roll his eyes.

“Plus, while it is obvious that my intelligence far exceeds yours, those other fools might not think so. Wouldn’t want people to think I don’t understand something as basic as that either.” Victor stopped, then his eyes became sharp, which made Reed shivered a bit under the unnerving gaze, “I will let it pass this time, Richards; however, if you are truly my rival, at least spend some time to come up with a worthier subject next time.”

The statement left Reed standing in the hall dumbfounded until Victor signed and started to drag him into the direction of the nearest library. 

(What?! What does he mean by “spending some time to come up with a worthier subject”? How patronizing of him. There are plenty of classmates who do not understand the concept!)

Never mind the question of why he had gone through the trouble to offer free tutoring every day for the last two weeks to his classmates—since Victor never talks to anyone so the secret should be safe—just to collect data on which topics people tend to struggle on.

* * *

A new semester begins and one day, after an exhausting yet satisfying Moral Philosophy class, Ben suddenly asks curiously.

“I thought Doomsey hated ya?”

“Em? Well, I--” Reed paused as if he was looking for words or just shocked to receive such a question, “I guess……yeah?”

To Reed’s surprise, Ben looks even more surprised than he does. “Then why is he taking the same electives as you? Did ya tell him your schedule last semester or what?”

“……What?” Reed looked dumbfounded and blurted out rather unintelligently. 

“Come on Reed, Moral Philosophy is not a required course—that is if y’all kids actually follow the same process as us normal folks—and it is not even a required elective. There are plenty of classes to choose from the Humanities and the Arts section than Moral Philosophy ya know. I mean, do you think Doom is the kinda guy who takes Moral Philosophy?”

“W--well, Victor does like winning, perhaps he did it to beat me?” Reed was stuttering a bit as the mind that was usually so praised by everyone seems to be shutting down temporarily, “I mean, you should have seen what was going on in the classroom. He literally likes to pick apart every single word I say and come up with a vicious but otherwise brilliant theory to use it against me.”

Ben smirked knowingly as he listened, which frustrated Reed to no ends. It was as if Ben understands something that Reed doesn’t or knows a terrible secret that holds all the answers in the world. It made Reed feel a little bad as this sense of unknowing is definitely new territory for him and now he knows what it feels like to be the ignorant one.

Finally, as if Ben sensed Reed’s growing frustration, he decided to spare the torture for the lean figure standing next to him, or perhaps to just shoot the final bullet.

“……and that requires sitting right next to ya? Or did ya purposefully sit next to him every time?”

Reed stood still and a shocked expression fixed on his face. He never thought about it. In fact, he doesn’t even know whether it was him or Victor who initiated the act. It all came smoothly, and it just felt right: sitting together while bickering about wanko mathematics, physics, and cosmology; about the rise and fall of nations, stars, and universes; about cult beliefs, demons, and the (non)existence of magic; about past, present, and future; about everything and nothing at all.

(I wonder if Victor realized this?)

Reed ponders.

(Perhaps he did, but probably not. If Victor had realized this, surely, he would refuse to sit next to me again.)

Suddenly, and selfishly, Reed was glad that Victor would not know this. For reasons he wasn’t able to identify, he doesn’t want whatever he has with Victor—this delicate relationship—to end. To think that Victor would realize……whatever this is, suddenly made Reed scared. Victor’s friendship was a fragile yet precious thing, and Reed wants to treasure and nurse it. And hopefully, it will grow to--

“……Reed? Are you there?” 

Reed’s mind stops. He lifts his head to find that they have stopped walking and Ben is no longer smirking, but simply stares at him with a worried and guilty look in his blue eyes, and strangely enough, seems to look somewhat apologetic. 

(Why does Ben look apologetic? For smirking? What was I just thinking and why am I afraid of losing Victor…...’s friendship?)

Nonetheless, Reed quickly cleared his mind and came up with an answer.

“We have always sat together during chess games since last semester. I guess that it had become a habit—that was developed naturally for us—to find each other and sit together.”

One of Ben’s eyebrows was raised quite dramatically but for some reason, Reed did not find it funny. Ben seemed to want to say something more but pauses as if remembering what just happened and stopped. He simply shook his head and signed while resuming their walk to the dining hall. Now Ben looked like the frustrating one.

“Whatever ya say, pal.”

And the conversation for that topic is put to an end. They moved on to other topics, such as how this new freshman kid on the team is a total douche bag, how one of the cheerleaders accidentally broke her arm and how everyone signed her cast, etc. 

As Reed listens to those people who are just names and nothing personal to him, he cannot help but relax a bit. He had just realized that he was actually sweating a bit from the previous conversation, and he was feeling a bit dizzy as if he was holding his breath the entire time. He took a few large breaths and looks into Ben’s brilliant blue eyes that gleam of happy lights, and thought,

(I like Ben, I mean, Ben clearly fit my type, even if he is not blond and probably never going to reciprocate considering he might not a bisexual……which is just depressing to think about)

But he couldn’t help but also wonders,

(……Why am I so worked up over a silly sitting arrangement anyways?)

* * *

They started to become each other’s lab partner. Partly because lab classes had become more complex and expensive and group works are now required, unlike last semester, but mostly due to the fact that no one but Reed wants to be Victor’s lab partner. 

Working with Victor and not limited to chess games made Reed positively sure that he will never meet a mind as Victor’s mind. Victor somehow was able to write science elegantly and lyrically like an artist—there has always been some old-world feel about him, and his way of expression is no different. It was completely different from Reed’s own style, but nonetheless Reed finds it beautiful, and dare he use the word “magical” to describe it. 

However, Victor’s poetic and sometimes abstract way of phrasing the language of science can be problematic—which Reed understands considering not everyone likes to read poems—such as the fact that no one in their lab class wants to peer review Victor’s lab reports or even general thesis. Sometimes, even the professor seems to have a hard time interpreting the full magnificence behind Victor’s papers. 

That is the real reason why Reed was always Victor’s partner. Reed would gleefully volunteer and happily take over the responsibility under rounds of thankful eyes—especially the TAs because apparently, they don’t want to peer review Victor’s works either. 

Of course, Victor would scoff and cross his arms with a “You all are beneath me” look as he watches the class with disdain. But no one dared to challenge that since it is the truth: Victor’s brilliance exceeds far above his classmates and even the faculties in the departments, only Reed was able to rival him.

* * *

They start to hang out in the same lab 2 months after the new semester started, and not only limited to their shared lab classes—obviously, working on different projects because Victor wouldn’t let Reed even look at the calculations for his personal secret project. Reed would still ask if he needs another hand and Victor would always pridefully refuse, but that was predictable to Reed now. At this point, he is mostly asking out of habit and says it as often as “how is your day”. 

Occasionally, Ben would drop in, and that seems to irritate Victor more than anything. It was something Reed himself could relate because he hates when other people—especially when they are not professionals—interrupt his work too. At the time he wonders about building a secure room with “Deep In Thought, Do Not Interrupt” in the future.

(Victor probably would also like that idea.)

Well, Reed doesn’t know if Victor would actually like the idea of a secured white room, but he does know that Victor certainly looks more murderous when Ben is hanging out in the lab.

One day, as he and Reed were on their way to the dorm, Ben mutters, “I don’t think Doomsey liked me very much.” 

“Don’t worry, if it’s because of the lab, well, he doesn’t like anyone in the same lab area as he is.” Reed replied sympathetically.

“Pal, I visited you guys when there were other students around, he wasn’t as murderous when they were there.”

“It must be your football and your open-toe shoes.” Reed states matter of factly.

Ben stared at Reed, seemingly in awe of his answer. It made Reed feel a bit uneasy as he started to doubt himself on whether he said anything inappropriate.

“……What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Stretch, I just hope you can find happiness.” Ben patted Reed’s shoulders. The sympathetic looks made Reed panic a bit as he quickly reflects on any of his recent behaviors that might expose his secret little crush on his friend, but as Ben moved to other topics with ease, Reed also starts to ease.

(Well, that was a close call.)

Reed originally thought perhaps Ben would visit the lab less—it’s not like Ben liked the place anyways—but surprisingly, Ben actually started to visit more, especially when Victor was around. Ben would seemingly be checking Victor out as if examining Victor, and it alarmed Reed greatly as he couldn’t help but thought,

(……Is Ben taking an interest in Victor?)

Reed could not help but also started to check Victor out. He never thought about Victor’s looks too much, considering Victor is not really his type and he already had a crush on Ben, but as he sees Victor—truly sees him—he found he could hardly move his eyes. 

Victor is beautiful with features like a demi-god coming out of a painting, and he was blessed with both an exquisite mind and physique. Reed never realized how the redness of Victor’s reddish-brown hair would be brought out by the sunlight; it made Reed think of the angels of vengeance with their swords and full armor as it shines a hazy scarlet halo on Victor’s hair. While Victor’s upbringing was a rather humble one, he was never ashamed of his identity and always seemed to hold himself with a regal air. There’s something dazzling about Victor’s confidence—even while arguing—and made Reed’s heart quickens.

“Enjoying the view, Richards?” 

Reed was quickly snapped back to reality and felt his face burned. 

Victor simply smirked, and surprisingly benevolent enough to not press on the matter any further. In fact, ever since then, Victor seemed to be calmer in general. Victor still does not like Ben’s presence in the lab, especially when Ben brings his football with him (at this point Reed thinks Ben is purposefully bringing the ball to annoy Victor for fun), but he became much more tolerant of Ben—they even took a few photos together with Ben appearing in between. Victor claims that he would totally burn those photos, but Reed just laughs and gives Victor his copy of printed photos anyways.

(We are friends now, aren’t we?)

They complement each other and they fit together like the two pieces of a puzzle. Everything seems to be going in a good direction. 

And then……the incident happened.

And then……there was no more Victor. The next time Reed saw him, there was only Doom.

It changes everything, yet somehow it also does not, such as Reed Richards’ fascination with Victor Von Doom. 

The feelings grow as Reed unravels Victor’s past piece by piece; as Reed became an active, indestructible part of Victor’s past, present and future. Because unlike so many others, while others only see the cult personality of Doom, Reed felt like he could truly see him. He sees both his old friend Victor and his deadly nemesis Doom, and he cares for both of them, for they are both one Victor Von Doom.

Victor Von Doom is a cynical individual who’s fearless to the point of self-destructive, strong-headed with unbinding will power, and downright the meanest man Reed has ever met. He mocks those who he deemed to be beneath his intelligence and dives into the unknown abyss with restless courage—or rage—if that helps him gain more power. That sometimes made Reed frightened and worried if Victor would hurt himself.

Victor Von Doom rarely laughs—in fact, Reed doesn’t think he has ever seen Victor genuinely smile during college (minus the times when Victor beat him in a game of chess or a theory debate, but those were less smiles and more smirks in Reed’s category), and after the incident, all he has ever seen was the unchanging iron mask that hides all its wearer’s emotions. 

Victor Von Doom’s family was full of tragedies and he had to grow up by himself—much like Reed did—and it hardens the man to close off on relationships and puts multiple barriers around him, both emotionally and physically.

Victor Von Doom has brown, piercing eyes that gleam of proud arrogance and reddish-brown hair always neatly tucked together, even while battling. And despite the full mask that hides the genius’ face, those brown eyes can be so expressive which draw Reed to its blazing light.

Victor Von Doom is never an individual who enjoys life in Reed’s eyes, because to Reed, Victor always seems to be living for some other purposes. That is not to say that those purposes are bad—Reed actually finds some of them quite noble, such as freeing his mother’s soul from hell—but that’s not the way a person should live their life. 

Because Victor has to become Doom to maintain that life.

Every adventure is for Doom to gain more power. Every new discovery is for Doom to gain more control. And as Doom gets fuller and stronger, Victor’s life becomes smaller and weaker, until there’s nothing left of Victor, only Doom.

And Reed hates that.

Reed doesn’t know why he hates that. Perhaps as he reaches for the seemingly untouchable young student and later the king over the years, something changed within him, which only until recently did he have a name for; however, even before he understands his feelings, it bothered him to the point that he was always reaching out to Victor, and offering a second chance; he always calls him Victor and never Doom, and reminds him that this world needs Victor, not Doom. 

And Doom hates that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last part was done as a one-shot character study way before this fanfic, and later I decide to expand it. Hopefully it fits ok with the rest.


End file.
